Print summary by related field

[dhodges00]

First-time poster; hope it makes sense. I should know this, but it's been several years since I've worked under FM's hood.....

I have a TO DO file and a PLANNER file. When the PLANNER shows a date in a field, a portal in this file reflects a list of that date's To Do list from its relationship with the TO DO file.

I can sort each day's list by a category assigned to each record in the TO DO file (ie, sort to do's by 'work', 'home', 'phone call', etc.)

What I want to be able to do is to print a complete list of a day's "To Do's" summarized by each category, such as:

WORK:

Meet with Ted

Start Project

HOME:

Feed dog

PHONE:

Call plumber

I'm not sure how to setup the print layout. My lame attempts so far only produce ONE (1) To Do item on the page.

I hope this is enough information for someone to get me started in the right direction.

Do I need a portal on the print layout?

Shouldn't this work with a summary section based on the category and one related field from the TO DO file placed beneath the summary header?

What do I need to do to make each printout date-specific?

Thanks in advance.

Dennis

[dhodges00]

I just posted my question and then had a "duh!" moment.

I've been trying to print from the PLANNER file.

Would the easiest solution be to create a script in the TO DO file to find the date in question, sort those records by category and have a print layout to use in the TO DO file?

[surfsidepgs]

You are correct. John Osborne, the great FileMaker trainer, has taught me that you always report from the table that has the data. That way you can summarize to get the results you're looking for. In the To Do file (table) you would find the date in question, sort by category. If your layout had a sub-summary part you'd get just the list you describe. You could also add another part so you could print multiple dates which would each have the summarized list. The layout wizzard would walk you through this fairly easily. Good luck.